A Thousand Days
by sora1213
Summary: Team Natsu follows the Thunder Legion on a mission that results in the death of Lucy, but all is not as it seems as she returns years later, a small child with her. Who is the child and where has she been for a thousand days. ( 2 years and 9-ish months) A short Laxus X Lucy fluffy-ish story. please R&R and let me know what you think, originally a one shot but i decided otherwise.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone just a short story here, it's been in my head for months and I just now had time to type it all out. There will be some song lyrics that go with the story in just a few places because I feel it helps with the story. Just let me know what you think, and yes there will be more chapters. Just read and enjoy. As always Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 _Hey Lucy, I remember your name_

 _I left a dozen roses on your grave today_

 _I'm in the grass on my knees, wipe the leaves away_

 _I just came to talk for a while_

 _I got some things I need to say_

 _Lucy by Skillet_

* * *

 **A Thousand Days**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Return**

 _It's so peaceful here._ Laxus thought as he walked down a winding path towards his destination. _She would have loved it here._ The birds were chirping and the light breeze made the leaves on the trees around him dance in the sunlight. He stopped and wiped a tear from his eye when he reached his destination.

"Lucy…" Laxus muttered as the dozen red roses fell from his hands, it was the first time in almost three years since he said her name aloud, and it was still as painful as the last time he said it. He fell to his knees in front of her headstone as he remembered the last time he saw her.

 _It was sunset, and magic was flying through the air around them as the Thunder Legion and Team Natsu and teamed up to take out a major Dark Guild, more like Natsu had followed Laxus when he had heard the leader was a supposedly powerful fire mage. Lucy had been acting weird around Laxus for a week or so, and Natsu had dragged her along when she had wanted to stay home, but she had come anyways._

"You should have stayed home, Lucy." Laxus whispered as he closed his eyes and her terrified eyes filled his vision as she was hit with a blast of magic just when they thought everything was over; as he remembered the terrified scream of his name as she was hurled backwards off a cliff, as her name ripped its way from his throat as he tried to help her, but was too late. It was the last time anyone had seen her, the only thing found was her hair ribbon caught in the rocks below.

 _Three months with you._ Laxus thought bitterly and tore at the grass in front of him. _Only three months when I wanted a lifetime with you. There hasn't been anyone since you, I don't think I could be with anyone when all I think and dream about is you, the way you smiled whenever you saw me. The cute smile and light blush that appeared on your face the first time I asked you out. The way you pouted whenever I punched Natsu for getting too close to you. The way you turned beat red when Mira found out we had slept together and started gushing about blond babies._

 _I will never forget you._ "I'm so sorry." He cried out as tears dripped from his eyes, falling on the roses in front of him. "Lucy, I wish I had been one second sooner, I could have saved you." His watched beeped and he got up, not bothering to brush the grass from his pants, he needed to get back to the Guild, he had a memorial to attend.

"Happy Birthday, Lucy." He whispered as he made his way back to Fairy Tail.

* * *

The woman let out a sigh of relief as she stepped off the train only to groan if frustration as she saw how crowded the station was, but with another sigh she adjusted the sleeping toddler in her arms and navigated through the crowd. As she walked through town she caught snippets of conversation as she passed, most had to do with a huge party the local Guild was planning tonight. Apparently members from several Guilds were coming into town, all to light lanterns in memory of one of the local Guild's fallen members.

As she walked through town she let her feet guide her from memories she had only started to remember days before, her heart beating faster as she got closer to where she wanted to go. She passed shops and cafes she remembered visiting with friends, but they seemed like ghosts to her; their faces only a blur, their voices muffled. She only remembered one person, just not his name. He was tall and muscular, with blond hair that spiked up and piercing storm blue eyes, a lightning shaped scar going over his right eye. She remembered how much he cared for her, how much she loved him, but that was it.

Lost in thought she didn't realized she had stopped until she looked up and saw a large building in front of her, a large banner snapping in the breeze bearing the same symbol on it as the tattoo on the back of her hand. The girl in her arms shifted in her sleep, murmured something about bunnies as she buried her face into the woman's neck and as she smiled at the child in her arms she walked up the steps, stopping just inside the door to look around.

As she stood there watching the people inside the Guild names and faces matched up, and a few tears slipped from her eyes as her memories came flooding back. She saw Levy and Gajeel sitting at a table with Yukino and Rouge, sitting at the table next to them were Wendy, Chelia, Lisanna, Erza, and Juvia. Mira was serving Cana, Bacchus and Bickslow at the bar while Gray and Lyon argued about something at the other end of the bar, Freed behind it trying to calm them down.

She looked for the man she couldn't remember, only to sigh when she couldn't find him. She was getting ready to leave when a blue blur shot past, closely followed by a pink one that shouted out at everyone.

"HEY EVERYONE, I'M HO-" The blur stopped and turned towards her, and she saw Natsu look at her, disbelief in his voice and eyes as called out her name. "Lucy?"

* * *

 _Now that it's over_ _I just wanna hold her_

 _I'd give up all the world to see_

 _That little piece of heaven looking back at me_

 _Now that it's over_

 _I just wanna hold her_

 _I've gotta live with the choices I made_ _  
_

 _A_ _nd I can't live with myself today_

 _Lucy by Skillet_


	2. Chapter 2

**AN~ Hi everyone, this took me longer than I originally planned, but it's finally done!** **the song is A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. (the version I listened to while doing this one was the cover by Aimée Proal and** **Lindsey Stirling.) Just read and enjoy. As always Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

* * *

 **A Thousand Days**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Rose**

* * *

 **A Thousand Years**

 **Christina Perri**

 **Heart beats fast  
Colors and promises  
How to be brave  
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall  
But watching you stand alone  
All of my doubt, suddenly goes away somehow**

 **One step closer**

 **I have died everyday, waiting for you  
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more**

* * *

"Hi everyone, I'm home." At the sound of Lucy's voice the Guild hushed, heads turned to look at her.

"It can't be…" A shaky voice came from the corner table, and Lucy turned to watch Levy make her way over, closely followed by Gajeel. "Is it really you?"

"It's really me, Levy. I'm sorry I was go-"

"Don't you ever do something like that again." Levy cut her off as she threw her arms around Lucy and the child, tears rolling down her face and onto Lucy's shirt. "We looked for you for months, and found nothing. Laxus was…." When his name was mentioned Lucy felt a jolt in the back of her mind, causing her to flinch and step back from Levy.

"Hold her," she said as she passed the toddler to Levy as she slid down the wall and onto the floor, her hands going to her head as she watched Levy pass the still sleeping child to Gajeel and kneel next to her, repeatedly asking her if she's okay.

Memories flashed through her mind, memories of the man she couldn't name. _She had been watching him for weeks, waiting for him to ask her out, she felt her face heat up when he finally did. She remembered their first date getting interrupted by Natsu barging into the restaurant, demanding that he give Lucy back so they could go on a job. He had grabbed her hand and they had run from Natsu, laughing the entire time as they ran to his house on the edge of town, where runes had kept Natsu out. Instead of a nice dinner they had ended up watching old movies on his couch all night. She remembered how softly he kissed her when he dropped her off at her apartment._

 _She remembered months later as she looked at the object in her hand, wondering how in the world she was going to tell him why she had been avoiding him all week. Then Natsu barged into her apartment and practically dragged her on a job, only then did she realize it was the Dark Guild one that he and his team were on. Just when they thought it was done one on the mages got up and sent a spell at her, blasting her off the edge of a cliff. The words of the spell echoing in her mind._ _ **Memoria Somnis Dies Milia. (AN. Latin for memory sleep of a thousand days.)**_

"Laxus…" Lucy whimpered as she looked around her, Levy still kneeling beside her, Gajeel giving the child in his arms an odd look; his nose twitching as he smelled a familiar scent on the child before he glanced at Lucy, who gave him a small nod, and watched as his eyes widened in surprise. "Where is Laxus?"

"He's not here," Levy told her as she helped Lucy to her feet and grabbed the child from Gajeel as she started to make noises in her sleep, and Lucy watched as Levy soothed the child back to sleep.

"How did you do that so quickly?" Lucy asked in awe.

"I have twins around her age, they're taking a nap in the kids' room upstairs." Levy answered with a small smile as they walked towards the bar. "So where did you find this cutie?"

"Well… um… it's hard to explain." She said as she sat at the bar, glad to be off her feet.

"You can explain after you eat." Mira stated as she placed a plate of food in front of Lucy and beckoned her to eat. "Levy take a seat next to Lucy so she doesn't worry about the child." She then turned to Lucy as Levy sat, "And you, Lucy, can at least tell us where you've been all this time."

"Well," Lucy began as she picked up her fork. "It started wh-"

"Mira," A voice called out across the Guild hall, making Lucy freeze. "I'm back, what's going…." Lucy turned and the voice faltered, "on…"

"Laxus?" She whispered, afraid to go any louder than that, and saw the shock in his eyes turn into anger within in seconds.

"Is this some joke?" He demanded to know, "Is someone using magic to play some funny game? Because I don't find this very funny."

"It's not a joke." Levy said from beside Lucy as she tried to keep the child in her arms from waking.

"Are you sure, because it feels like one to me. I just got back from her g-grave," He pointed a finger to Lucy, his voice cracking in grief. "And I come back to a very poorly thought out joke sitting at the bar."

"Damn it Laxus!" Lucy yelled as she stood up, knocking over the bar stool with a crash, the child in Levy's arms began to whimper. "I'm alive and standing right in front of you, why can't you believe it?"

"Because if you really were the Lucy I knew you wouldn't have stayed away all this time. You would have come back." He turned to walk out only to stop as something hit him in the back of the head. He turned and saw Lucy's arm outstretched and looked down to see a fork at his feet.

"That's what I was getting ready to explain before you came it, and it's a complicated story to te-"

"MAMA!" The child wailed from Levy's arms.

"It's okay sweetie," Levy spoke softly as she tried to soothe the child, "I'm sure Lucy knows where your mama is." Levy was surrounded by several of the women as they tried to help soothe the child, and she gasped in surprise as she caught a glimpse of the child's eyes, a vibrant storm blue, the mirror to the eyes watching Lucy as she gently took the child from Levy's arms.

"It's okay, baby." She cooed, Laxus watching her in stunned silence, along with the whole Guild. "Mamas here now." As she soothed the child over the next few minutes as everyone watched the two in silence her wails turned to sniffles. The child looked around, taking in all the people watching them.

"Mama, where we at?" The girl looked up at Lucy, who smiled at the girl in her arms.

"It's the place I've been looking for all week." Lucy looked straight at Laxus, a tear escaping from her eye. "The place where your father lives."

All at once hell breaks loose, in typical Fairy Tail fashion of course. Natsu charges Laxus, fists flaming, only to be sent into the back wall. Erza and Gray both send projectiles towards him, only to abruptly stop them as Lucy stepped in front of him, keys held in an outstretched arm, the child in the other.

"Enough!" She called out over the protests from her former team. "I will **not** have you attack him for something he didn't even know about." She glared at her team until they lowered their weapons. "Now can everyone sit down so I can explain what happened?"

* * *

Everyone had finally settled, waiting for her to start, Laxus leaning on the other side of the bar, watching her. Lucy took a breath and started explaining it to the guild, but she was really talking to Laxus, who wouldn't even meet her eyes.

"Three months after we started dating, Laxus, I got pregnant. I didn't find out until about a week before I disappeared." Lucy adjusted the child in her arms as she looked over at him, but he looked away as her gaze met his. "I was going to tell you but Natsu heard about the fire mage in that Dark Guild you were going after and he dragged me along, but that spell that sent me off that cliff was an ancient memory spell; _**Memoria Somnis Dies Milia,**_ or memory sleep of a thousand days."

She felt a chill creep up her spine at just the mention of the spell as she continued. "I was found washed up on the edge of a small costal village and everything was a haze for the first few weeks, and my spirits would come out and help me when I needed them, but even they were confused for the first few weeks about what had happened to me. I couldn't remember anyone, and anytime they tried to help it became worse, but the mage's magic must not have been strong enough because I remembered one person, just not their name. That person was you, Laxus.

Soon, though, my spirits realized I was pregnant, and that is when everything became complicated. I needed medical attention, but couldn't be in a large town, so I stayed in the village I washed up in while they tried to figure out how to reverse the spell, though Cancer changed my appearance some. I saw you there once, Laxus," she heard his sharp intake of breath but continued without looking at him. "When I tried to go to you though I went into labor, and the villagers there quickly rushed to help me."

* * *

Laxus vaguely remembered that encounter, he was searching the coastal villages for any sign of her. He was walking through the village to the mayor's house when he felt a tug in his gut, he looked over and saw a heavily pregnant brunette with Lucy's eyes start walking toward him, only to let out a gasp and have her hands fly to her abdomen. He walked away as several women surrounded her, chattering away as women do. He didn't even think of talking to her, as he had been seeing parts of Lucy in every woman he passed.

He never told his team of this encounter, it had been a month since everyone else had stopped searching, and even then, he only searched when he went on a solo mission. Eventually the guild had bought her a headstone, trying to tell him in their own way that she wasn't coming back, that it was time to move on.

He listened vaguely as Lucy told how her spirits had taken care of her and her child the first few month as she adjusted to being a new mother. How the village was sad to see her leave almost a week ago as her memories started to return to her.

"My thousand days were up, and my memories began to return bit by bit." Lucy said and he finally looked up and caught her eyes, saw the heartache in them. "I remembered places first, the Heartfilia estate was the first place I visited, but it was being worked on so I couldn't go inside. After I went there I made my way here, on my way through town I remembered flashes of the places I used to visit here in town. When I entered the guild, I saw everyone's faces and started to remember everyone, but it wasn't until Levy mentioned your name, Laxus, that I fully remembered everything that had happened to me." His eyes went to the girl in his arms, his child, and watched as she lazily sucked her thumb as she watched him with eyes that mirrored his own.

Everything would have been different if he had known about her, if Lucy had only told him sooner she was carrying his child she wouldn't have been on the mission at all. Slowly he walked towards the two of them, the entire guild watching them as he held his hands out, gesturing for the child. As Lucy set the child in his arms he felt a connection to her, and his eyes sparked for just a moment, as did the child's. This was _his_ child, _his_ magic connecting them as the girl looked up at him and smiled.

"Who is you?" She asked sweetly and he lost his cool demeanor as he gathered her close, inhaling the sweet milk and honey scent that surrounded most children as he buried his face in her neck.

"I'm your daddy." Laxus exhaled as he closed his eyes.

"Daddy!?" She squealed, barely containing her excitement as she wiggled to look at Lucy. "Mama is he really my daddy?"

"Yes, Baby, he's your daddy." She said as she moved closer to the two of them, only to let out a small yelp as Laxus pulled her close with one arm and covered her lips with his own in a quick, yet heated kiss.

"And I'm not letting the two of you out my sight for a while." He told her while the guild hooted and whistled at them, the girl in his arms giggling at the kiss. "You never did tell me her name."

"Her name is Rose, after the young woman who found me on the beach." She told him as she took Rose from him, only to sigh in contentment as he wrapped his arms around them both, holding them close.

* * *

When it was dark enough to see the stars the guild slowly emptied, and the streets began to fill with people: people from town, from other guilds, most just tourists coming to enjoy the lanterns. As Lucy stepped onto the streets she saw everyone around her had lanterns either in their hands or on the ground next to them, some even had a pile of lanterns next to them.

"Here Lucy," Makarov said as he handed her a paper lantern, a small lacrima nestled in a holder inside the lantern. "This is the lantern that signals everyone to release them. I would like to give you the honor of releasing it since you finally made it back to us." With a smile, she passed Rose to Laxus and took it, and with a bit of magic made it light up, and to Rose's delight it lit up with a rainbow of colors.

As she looked around her she saw all her friends and guildmates light the lanterns around them, most were shades of pink and yellow; some were silver, gold, or blue as those were her favorite colors. As they went further up into the star filled sky she saw a rainbow of colors come from all over town as everyone else released their lanterns into the night.

* * *

For several hours, the entire town stayed in the streets celebrating Lucy's return as the lanterns danced above and around them. Laxus looked around and spotted Lucy talking to Levy, Rose limp with fatigue in her arms, and with a quick hug to Levy she turned and walked over to him.

"She's out cold." She told him with a small smile.

"Yeah, I think it's about time we get her home."

"Home… Where is home exactly?" She mused as she looked up at him.

"Your old home." He said with a grin, leading her towards the edge of town.

"My old home?" She asked, thinking of the tiny apartment she used to have.

"The Heartfilia estate, I bought it a few months back and it's about halfway restored, and it's perfectly safe for Rose. Most of the work being done right now is cosm- Lucy, what's wrong?" He asked as she had stopped in her tracks behind him.

"You bought my old estate?"

"Well I couldn't just let it sit there. I knew you wanted to buy it back, but when we thought you died I wouldn't let that part of you die too. I couldn't let you go completely, even if I never lived there I was going to buy it and restore it for you. I never gave up on you." He felt a few tears escape from his eyes as he gathered them in his arms. "I've waited a thousand days for you to come home, I felt like I was dying a little bit each day as I waited fo-"

He was cut off as her lips sealed over his own, and he clung to her like a lifeline. As she pulled away they both had a few tears in their eyes. "You don't have to say anymore, I know how you feel. I nearly died and I've been waiting a thousand days to return to you. Let's go home, where we have the rest of our lives waiting for us."

* * *

 **Time stands still  
Beauty in all she is  
I will be brave  
I will not let anything, take away  
What's standing in front of me  
Every breath, every hour has come to this**

 **One step closer**

 **I have died everyday, waiting for you  
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more**

 **And all along I believed, I would find you  
Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more**


End file.
